Gwen
Cherry taught for 22 years before she became Miami-Dade County’s first female,
African American attorney, and the first African American woman elected to the
Florida legislature. During her years in the Florida House (1970–1979), she
introduced the Equal Rights Amendment and the Martin Luther King, Jr., state
holiday. She also chaired the Minority Affairs Committee for the Democratic
National Convention and the National Women’s Political Caucus in 1972.